6 Kyrie Irving trades that aren’t so crazy

It’s no secret that Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland. The 25-year-old requested a trade because he doesn’t want to play alongside LeBron James any longer and has the desire to be the focal point of a team. You can’t blame Irving for feeling this way. He’s a four-time NBA All-Star, an NBA Champion, and has a penchant for taking over games with his scoring prowess.

Irving has the skills to lead a team to the postseason and possibly to the NBA Finals. He isn’t afraid to take big shots and can shoulder scoring duties. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, 20 teams have inquired about trading for Irving, and six of those teams pitched trade offers to Cleveland as well.

Irving is generating a lot of interest, and why wouldn’t he? He’s a prolific scorer with impeccable ball-handling abilities. Irving also knows what it takes to catapult a team to a NBA Championship. That said, which team would you like to see Irving go to? SB Nation asked fans on Twitter about the teams they want Irving to play for.

Let’s take a look at the results:

Okay, the 76ers traded up with the Boston Celtics to select point guard Markelle Fultz with the first overall pick in this year’s draft. It will be hard to fathom Philadelphia trading up to snag a talented player and then shipping him to Cleveland for Irving. But NBA fans on Twitter would like to see Irving in a 76ers jersey. If Philadelphia wanted Irving, who would they trade?

Philadelphia would likely stick with Fultz, but it has the pieces to land Irving in a trade.

Phoenix is in the midst of its rebuilding stage, which is going nicely. The team has solid young players like Devin Booker, Davon Reed, Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, and Dragan Bender. There are also veteran players on the Suns like Eric Bledsoe, Jared Dudley, and Tyson Chandler. Irving would fit nicely on this team because of his scoring prowess and ability to connect on big-time shots. How can Phoenix snag the 25-year-old point guard?

Phoenix could trade Bledsoe, Chandler, and Chriss for Irving and Iman Shumpert. The Suns definitely have the assets to land Irving, but the only question at this juncture is will Cleveland listen to Phoenix’s offers.

Miami is probably one of the dark horse teams to land Irving via trade, but it does have some assets to swap for Irving. Goran Dragić, Hassan Whiteside, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, and Dion Waiters are all good players.

But Dragić, Richardson, and Winslow would probably be the odd men out. Whiteside inked a four-year, $98 million extension before the start of last season, and Waiters signed a four-year, $52 million deal in early July. Let’s see how Miami could possibly land Irving.

Poor Brooklyn. This team needs all the help it could get. The Nets decided to trade center Brook Lopez to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard D’Angelo Russell. Brooklyn has a few solid young pieces, but they’ll probably try to hold onto most of them.

The Cavs might not be too interested in this deal, but could you imagine if they went for it? Irving would unquestionably be the guy in Brooklyn. If the Cavs would settle for Jeremy Lin, Trevor Booker and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the trade could work.

Unlike Brooklyn, the Knicks actually make a bit of sense here. Carmelo Anthony wants out of New York and Irving wants out of Cleveland — the two sides just have to make it work. It took a bunch of tweaking, but we did the leg work.

The Knicks would send Anthony to the Cavaliers, but they’d have to take back Iman Shumpert’s contract in a salary dump. The Trail Blazers would deal Evan Turner to the Cavaliers for Channing Frye, which gives them some cap relief into next season and while evening out the money for the deal.

The Spurs were one of the teams on Irving’s preferred destination list. They’d be a great fit for him, but it’s tough to get a deal done because of how bare the asset cupboards are in San Antonio. We figured something out though.

We included the Jazz as a third team in the deal and sent Alec Burks to Cleveland. The Spurs would get Irving, but would also have to deal Tony Parker away to the Jazz. Dealing a homegrown legend like Parker in San Antonio is tough, but it gives Utah another solid presence handling the ball and further facilitates the trade. The Spurs would also send Danny Green and Dejounte Murray to Cleveland.

Folks, Irving will be the hot topic of professional basketball for the next few weeks or months. Any team wold be lucky to have him. But who will take a flier on him? We’ll have to wait and see.